A wireless communications network typically includes a variety of communication nodes coupled by wireless or wired connections and accessed through different types of communications channels. Each of the communication nodes includes a protocol stack that processes the data transmitted and received over the communications channels. Depending on the type of communications system, the operation and configuration of the various communication nodes can differ and are often referred to by different names. Such communications systems include, for example, a Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) system and a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
Third generation wireless communication protocol standards (e.g., 3GPP-UMTS, 3GPP2-CDMA2000, etc.) may employ a dedicated traffic channel in the uplink (e.g., a communication flow between a mobile station (MS) or User Equipment (UE), and a base station (BS) or NodeB. The dedicated physical channel may include a data part (e.g., a dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH) in accordance with UMTS Release 4/5 protocols, a fundamental channel or supplemental channel in accordance with CDMA2000 protocols, etc.) and a control part (e.g., a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH) in accordance with UMTS Release 4/5 protocols, a pilot/power control sub-channel in accordance with CDMA2000 protocols, etc.). For UMTS, the DPDCH carries the data to be transmitted. Incoming data is in the format of transport channels and multiple transport channels are time-multiplexed into the DPDCH. Transport channels are received every Transmission Time Interval (TTI), which is 1, 2, 4 or 8 times the radio frame duration of 10 ms. Different transport channels to be multiplexed into the same DPDCH can have different TTIs, but the boundaries of the larger TTIs are always aligned with the boundaries of some smaller TTIs.
Each DPDCH frame has an associated DPCCH frame of 10 ms duration consisting of 15 slots of 10 bits each. Each slot's 10 bits consist of pilot bits and control bits. The control bits include Transport Format Combination Indicator (TFCI) bits, which provide an indicator of the data rate for each transport channel on the associated DPDCH and are used for processing the received DPDCH frame, Feed Back Information (FBI) bits, and Transmit Power Control (TPC) bits. Two bits per slot are allocated for TFCI. The actual combination of numbers of the remaining 8 bits can changed and is controlled by the Radio Network Controller (RNC). An exemplary configuration is 5 pilot bits, 2 TFCI bits, 1 FBI bit and 2 TPC bits for one slot. Both the NodeB and the UE know the pilot bits, but the rest of the bits are unknown to the NodeB.
TFCI is transmitted every frame by the UE. It is a 10-bit word that is coded into a 32-bit TFCI codeword. In a normal mode, two coded bits are punctured and the remaining 30 TFCI coded bits are transmitted in a radio frame, 2 bits per slot, 15 slots per radio frame. Since TFCI is a 10-bit word, there are 1024 possible TFCI index values. Depending, however, on the Transport Format Combination Set (TFCS) size, only the indices from 0 to TFCS_size−1 are used out of those 1024 possible TFCI index values, where the number TFCS_size is much smaller than 1024. For each transmission, the index is mapped to its 10-bit binary representation, which is (x10, x9, . . . , x1), where bit x10 is the MSB and bit x1 is the LSB, and where this binary representation of TFCI runs from 0 to TFCS_size−1. This 10-bit word is then encoded by a (32, 10) subcode of a 2nd order Reed-Muller code to produce the 32-bit TFCI codeword (z0, z1, . . . , z31), which is punctured by not transmitting the last two bits, z30 and z31. As noted, these remaining 30 bits, z0, . . . , z29, are transmitted 2-bit per slot in the 15-slot DPCCH frame.
At the NodeB receiver, soft symbols, s0, s1, . . . , s31 corresponding to the coded TFCI bits z0, z1, . . . , z31 at the UE are derived. These soft symbols are decoded by correlating them with each of the 1024 possible TFCI code words to obtain 1024 metrics for TFCS indexes {0, 1, . . . , 1023}. A search for the maximum of these metrics is performed and the index that corresponds to the maximum metric is the decoded TFCI. Fast Hadamard Transform (FHT) can be employed as a computationally efficient method to perform the correlation. Since the NodeB knows the TFCS look-up table size in use, it only needs to search on the metrics corresponding to the indices from 0 to TFCS-size−1, with no gaps in between these indices. This gives significant performance advantage over the case when no information about the actual size of TFCS is assumed (i.e., TFCS-size=1024), especially when the actual TFCS size is much smaller than 1024. The maximum search is thus able to operate only on the metrics for the first TFCS_size indices out of the possible 1024 indices.
Newer versions of these standards, for example, Release 6 of UMTS provide for high data rate uplink channels referred to as enhanced dedicated physical channels. These enhanced dedicated physical channels may include an enhanced data part (e.g., an enhanced dedicated physical data channel [E-DPDCH] in accordance with UMTS protocols) and an enhanced control part (e.g., an enhanced dedicated physical control channel [E-DPCCH] in accordance with UMTS protocols). As defined in the specification of the enhanced uplink data channel, the UE transmits a frame of data in the E-DPDCH simultaneously with a frame of control information in the E-DPCCH channel. This control information that is communicated from UE to NodeB includes parameters that are in general needed by the NodeB to decode the E-DPDCH frame. An E-DPCCH word includes seven E-TFI (E-DCH [enhanced-uplink dedicated channel] Transport Format Indicator) bits that provide the NodeB with information from which the NodeB can determine the actual packet size within the E-DPDCH data frame. This is needed because the transport channels can have a variable packet data size based on the type of the applications and the dynamic nature of packet data communication. Generally, two frame sizes (TTI lengths), i.e., 10 ms and 2 ms, are available for use in the E-DPDCH. In addition, an E-DPCCH word includes RSN (retransmission sequence number) bits that indicate the redundancy version of the data frame on the E-DPDCH, up to a maximum of 3, which can be represented by two bits. The redundancy version is needed because the NodeB needs to know whether a frame is transmitted for the first time, or is a HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) first, second or third retransmission of the data frame. If a previous transmission has not been acknowledged by any of the NodeBs that might be communicating with a UE, the UE will retransmit the same frame unless an acknowledgement (ACK) is received from at least one NodeB, or the maximum allowable number of retransmissions of the same frame has been reached. Therefore, even if a NodeB was not previously able to decode a frame transmission, it cannot predict whether the UE will send a new transmission of another frame or the retransmission of the previous frame since another NodeB with which the UE was communicating might have acknowledged the previous frame. The E-DPCCH word also includes a single happy bit (H-bit), which the UE uses to inform the NodeB whether or not it is happy with current setup of E-DCH channels (e.g., the UE can use this indictor to tell the NodeB that it needs more data capacity and can handle it, but NodeB currently is not allowing it to have the data rate so it is not happy). An E-DPCCH word thus contains 10-bits that are the seven TFI bits, the two RSN bits and the single happy bit (H-bit) within one frame of transmission.
In accordance with 3GPP standards Release 6 (TS25.212, version 6.4.0, Mar. 30, 2005), these three sources of information (RSN, TFI and H-bit) are used to form a 10-bit E-DPCCH word (x10, x9, . . . , x1). FIG. 1 shows the mapping of the RSN, TFI and H-bit bit mapping by bit mapper 101 at the UE 102 of the two RSN bits into bits (x1, x2), TFI into bits (x3, . . . , x9) and the H-bit into bit x10. Coder 103 then encodes the 10-bit DPCCH words using a (32, 10) subcode of a 2nd order Reed-Muller code to form a 32-bit E-DPCCH codeword (z0, z1, . . . , z31), which is the same as the encoding of the TFCI for DPCCH described above. As for TFCI for DPCCH, only the first 30 bits, z0, . . . , z29, are transmitted. At the NodeB receiver 104, the soft symbols (s0, s1, . . . , s31) corresponding to the coded E-DPCCH bits, (z0, z1, . . . , z31) at the UE 102, are derived (not shown). Correlator 105 correlates these soft symbols with each possible E-DPCCH code words (1024 in total), to produce the 1024 metrics of E-DPCCH indices {0,1, . . . , 1023}. As for DPCCH, FHT can be employed as a computationally efficient method to perform the correlation. Since NodeB can exploit prior knowledge about the maximum RSN and the Transport Format Set (TFS) size in use, searcher 106 only needs to perform the search on those metrics that correspond to valid E-DPCCH words. However, the valid E-DPCCH words do not correspond to a single range of indices but rather correspond to either discrete indices or to a few disjoint index regions. Hence, the maximum search by searcher 106 over metrics with valid E-DPCCH indices is more involved than the corresponding search over TFCIs over {0, 1, TFCS-size−1} for DPCCH described above. As a first example, if the maximum RSN is 1, and TFI has values from 0-3, there are 16 valid indices having discrete values of 0, 2, 128, 130, 256, 258, 384, 386, 512, 514, 640, 642, 768, 770, 896, and 898. As a second example, if the maximum RSN is 3 and TFI has values from 0-3, there are a total of 32 valid indices having values in the individual ranges of 0-3, 128-131, 256-259, 384-387, 512-515, 640-643, 768-771, and 896-899, thus requiring a search for the maximum metric over eight disjoint index regions.